kats

Hi Mark , I do this before someone does. The change was made around in February ( export) or March (Japan) 1971 , there is a service bulletin which is titled’ 1971 late models ‘ introduced a set of new seat belts as well as other numerous changes. It is Interesting to see two books were written in different way , different depth of technical descriptions. Kats

Thanks Patcon , maybe I was gambling for it. I was thinking if I damaged the bonnet, I would have had it fixed with original blue # 903 . The reason why I bought a very rough 240Z (-02146) is sampling an original color #903 . But for now , I am so happy with the bonnet, to repaint back to original #903 will be postponed to someday. Kats

Thanks Keith, you have a Patrol ! Does it have a L24 motor ? I don’t have any knowledge about Nissan cars before S30 cars , but I remember Nissan engineers said bolts and nuts were mixed up with inches and millimeters. For late 1960’s cars like S30, they decided to use only millimeters for convenience. By the way, I have read that Nissan rally cars used less variation of sizes of bolts and nuts to minimize number of tools for fast operations. Chris , I too love hunting tools , wooden handle screw drivers are my favorite one. My recommendation is to get spark plug wrench , that is cool to add your correction. Kats

Here is my tool box , Prince tools are inside in the box . I found one big wrench which has name ダットサン(Datsun) I think it is very old tool , maybe before WW2 ? Kats

Now my 240Z look like this . I add some old pictures for references. Kats

Hi , I have been unhappy with my 240Z’s bonnet. The top center edge was pointing down quite noticeably. I wanted it lifted up as we have seen it in original, un damaged bonnet. All I have seen old pictures show me beautiful, a bit far from the bumper than the both left and right corners. So , I did it by my self . It is a crazy thing , It was abrupt method. I used a jack with wood pieces to push the top center of the bonnet. Gradually and carefully lifted it up , I was so scare when I was doing it . It turned out quite nicely, I must say I am happy with it. I don’t see any crack or bumpy , shrink surface . I will do some bonnet hinges adjustments, also may require some head light case and fender adjustments . Please see the pictures ! Kats

Hi Keith, I think it is because of lack of courtesy not of the plastic. It is bothering but every time I open the storage covers , I unscrewed the knob completely out not to pinch the edge of the cover . I put a washer under the screw , I don’t know this helps something anyway. Kats

Wow ! That is what I have, cool YouTube, thanks again Gavin. I can’t wait to see your fine work . Kats

Thanks Gavin, this time I skip doing prep , So it is not the best . Next time I will take care much better than this , I will see more shining chrome . It is really fun to paint ! Kats

Today I touched up a choke lever facia of HLS30-02146 . I have heard of ‘ GUNDAM MARKER ‘ which is a marker pen for painting ‘GUNDAM’ robot. I tried , and I am so satisfied with the results. To achieve the best results, sand it and get it smooth before painting. Kats IMG_7584.MOV FullSizeRender.MOV

Hi Patcon , the winning bid was 315000 yen , the buy it now was 440000 yen . Bidding rule is a bit different from eBay . I think it is a god price for those nice seats . Now JPY is weak against US dollar, it might be a good timing for foreigners. But I think people in overseas don’t need to pay such a big money for seats , do they ? Or if there is an exceptional high quality of S30 seats , it might be different. Kats

Now this set of seats is available , only 12 hours left. This is Mr.Sudo’s work , I think his work is the best in the world. Not only using original materials from the manufacturer , but also his technique of sawing, shaping , creating a better support and better comfort. It is a real craftsmanship. I can say they are ‘better than new’. It is very unusual his seats are available on auction sites . Unless you find a set of super mint condition original seats , you will never wish to sell them . Mr. Sudo can do for both 1970 fat seat back with rubber-belt seat bottom and later slim seat back with spring-tension seat bottom. This set as you can see , September 1971 and later ‘slim seat back with spring-tension seat bottom . Mr. Sudo is no more making S30 seats , so , if someone want nice seats, I think it is a good buy . Paying for an original radio or an original dash are so expensive today , but how about seats ? I don’t think people care about it seriously , so the price will be seemed high at the moment. Kats

An interesting book , ‘Service information about Tubeless tire ‘ March 1970 , Nissan Moto co.ltd. Like Alan said ,Nissan was pushing Tubeless tire more than before . This book describes so many advantages of Tubeless tires against tire with tube , a figure is showing air leak of Tubeless vs Tube . Another figure is showing the reason of punctuation, at that time Japanese road was not good condition, it said nails were the highest cause of the punctuation. And an interesting thing is , service for punctuation a several method for each of tire manufacturer . Sorry for off topic . Kats

These are the best magazines to know about the works rally car for me. They contained the best interview for the depth of works rally car spoken by the general manager Mr. Namba and the team manager Mr.Wakabayashi. I am curious about were there any magazines available which described about Nissan works rally cars just like those Japanese publications outside of Japan ? If not , some one should interpret it because a lot of information there. I would like to try but will be a huge homework. Kats

I really love seeing those piles of rally tires ! Today I am hopeless about 14 inches off-road tires in Japan .We have many cool tread patterns but they are all for 15 inches or bigger wheels. I have stored Michelin XWX 205/70-14 ( I was thinking about if I buy a Dino 246 ! ) , so far this is my least choice for fatty bigger tire for my Zs when I want some feelings of rally car. Kats

Hi Keith, yes the jute is sewn to the carpet , looks like it is original , an inspection stamp has an inspector name “ Hoshino “ on it , 1 K 15 15 will mean 1971 November 15th , the last ‘15’ is still unknown. This car has a set of 5 pieces carpet and 5 pieces of jute , all carpets have this inspection stamp at the back . Yes I think so too , the heel pad looked to be the same as yours , interesting! Kats

Just for your reference, a set of jute and carpet of my Dec 1971 US 240Z which I sold it in 2021. I can't see the circular cut out which can be seen on earlier car. Kats

Before getting back from Watanabe san , here are some pictures from 1969 cars at Tokyo Motor show , and Nissan Ginza head office gallery.The color pictures are 1969 Fairlady Z-L . As a side note , there are some indications which tell us this car is super early. No hood bumpers , tiny rubber bumpers on the inspection lid , etc . Kats

Ok I will ask him . Kats

Hi Keith, Watanabe san’s car is a Z432 , PS30-00063 December 1969 . Fairlady Z-L and Fairlady 240Z-L and Fairlady 240ZG have almost same goodies like Z432 . Carpet set including for side sill rails, stop watch , 8 track tape and radio player with a dual speakers , passing light switch , etc etc . Kats

Hi Dan , thanks for sharing your mint NOS JUTE , this is what I have been thinking about. Jute pads for S30 series are very hard to distinguish which is which especially this “ jute front floor rear “. We have to get together and bring as many examples as possible with each date of manufacture to see what is original for a each car . I see 74922-E4100 in your picture, and it is obvious to be under a LHD seat in our LHD 240Z . Then how we can order for a RHD seat ? Cars up to around 01/1971 can’t flip it to the other side because of different configurations for the other tool stowage. But there is no description of “ jute front floor rear “ of RHD seat in LHD 240Z “ in parts catalogs for export models . I checked both US and Canada , and other destinations of LHD 240Z . They list only 74922-E4100 , no specifying L or R . Even the drawing is wrong . It is the same on November 1969 catalog and December 1979 catalog. But there is an answer in a Fairlady Z parts catalog . It lists for both , 74922-E4100 for Right side , 74923-E4100 for Left side. As you can see from this , they can be fit for both RHD S30 and LHD S30 cars , just need to switch L and R accordingly. But even a Fairlady Z parts catalog, it doesn’t list different parts numbers for cars when they have a reinforcement on the floor under the seat bottoms ( probably around April or May 1970 ) . Those cars have two piece jute divided by the reinforcement. Nissan didn’t think about it needs to list? Just cut them half and put them on ! And Dan , your NOS one has a unique feature, I am guessing that is for only very early cars like up to Jan 1970 . Two square cut outs for Velcro fasteners. My March 1970 240Z doesn’t have the cut outs , again Nissan didn’t think about applying a new part number for deletion of the cut outs . I show the jute pictures again which are provided my Z432 friend Watanabe san . His car registered in Dec 1969 , PS30-00063 . And Keith , I am very interested in your comments about early US cars have carpet set in the US . Look at Watanabe san’s carpet , I see beautiful loop pile .But I have been wondering why my US 240Z ‘s carpet looked different . If it is true , I will regret that I threw away my HLS30-02156 ‘s carpet set because they looked aftermarket for the car. Let’s find out. Kats

My jute is original too . So at least we found the thickness varies. I see 14mm or more in some places . Kats

I measured my 03/70 jute , and my raw jute . I can’t really say what thickness is “correct “ because it is varying depends on place .Rear deck is 7.42 mm but under seats area 13.74 mm .Probably the place where we pushed down tend to be less thickness. And I may not measure it correctly anyway. My raw jute is 12.15 mm slightly thinner than the one on my car . Does special liquid would increase volume? According to Nissan service Shuho Fairlady Z , it said the jute is for sound deadening and it is “ Asphalt jute” . Asphalt , was it dipped in Asphalt? Interesting! Kats

My pleasure SpeedRoo ! I remember the article “ simulated wood “ . Now one thing came up in my mind , this 蟹カマ ( simulated crab meat ) . This is so popular food in Japan . It has been continuously better and better, very tasty and I am so surprised it’s quality. But I can’t say this is crab meat because it is made from minced cod . No crab meat at all. I can’t say our steering wheel is simulated wood . I see there is wood . I call our steering wood . Kats

From my best treasure of all . 1970 PRESS INTRODUCTION “ FOR RELEASE PM’s WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1969” . Kats